Does anyone know, when an a/c is on alert does it still have 'Remove Before Flight' tags on it? I'm modelling the scene on 9/11 using the "WTC Scramblers" decals from TwoBobs.

I don't honestly know but I would think that it would depend at what level the alert is. If it's immediate, with the pilot in the cockpit then obviously not. It might be on one hour and then maybe yes.

We had our remove before flight tags removed whenever we were on deck in the Gulf aboard Constellation. When we had aircraft holding the +30 alert, we had a plane captain and an AT in attendence to remove the chalks and chains, to remove the cockpit safety pins for the pilot before he strapped his jet on, run it through start-up and flight control wig-wag and to disconnect the SINS cable from the aircraft before we handed it off to the Yellow Shirts and Final Checkers.

Not real sure Air. I have seen many photos of aircraft on deck. Some with tags on, some without. As for land based aircraft, the birds on the ground here are always on stand by and none of them sport any . I guess it could be one of those things depending who is around.(Ranking Officers, that is.)

At Shaw AFB, at our alert pad, the F-16s have Aim-9 Covers, Chocks, and Both Main Landing Gear pins in, EPU Pin in, Both 370 (wing tanks) pins in, Arming pins in AIM-9 launchers, and Aircraft grounding cord. Canopy up and ladder on. NO covers on the Pitot probe, or AOA Probes. Also Chaff/Flare Ground Safety pin in. Hopes this helps


SRA Atkinson
55 FS
Shaw AFB

Thanks, that does help, thank you everyone.

Matt :-)

Are you building the F-15As from Otis? These very same planes were based at Soesterberg in the Netherlands with the 32nd TFS until 1994 and then went to the MA ANG. I went there often as I lived close to Soesterberg.

When they were on zulu alert in NL, they had a pin in the nose gear (don't know about the main gear), no covers voor de sidewinders, back in the early nineties they used mainly AIM7s which were not covered, don't know about the AIM120s they use nowadays but makes sense that if they have a cover, it wasn't on there.

Arming pins were in the missiles. The rest is like FalconEE already mentioned.

Hope this helps.

Thank you, that does help. They are the Eagles from Otis, on 9/11 they had two Sparrows on the forward fuselage stations and two sidewinders on the outside wing stations. Alright so pins were on the gear and missiles, but the missiles weren't covered. I appreciate your help.